Gentle Evergreen
by nightwhisperofshadows
Summary: One night, four years from the final battle, three children come through the Veil, and Esmerelda just cannot catch a break. Fem!Harry
1. New Charges

Hey, yes this is a new story. Sorry about the prolonged hiatus on the other stories, but real life has made fanfiction take a set-back and I really haven't had time to write. But now I do, and I have already started the next chapter for Squirrel Mother and An Eevee's Wish and I'm planning on what my next chapter for MEI is going to be. So, please be patient with me, I have school work and assignments and other issues that prevent me from writing, but I promise you, I will be writing and posting when I can.

As for this story, yes I know it has been done before. But I am not stealing their story. I have permission from the author to use this idea, so no nasty reviews saying I stole someone else's idea. Credit for the Veil idea goes to lirio de amor. And on with the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

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><p>All was quiet in the Ministry of Magic. It was Halloween night, four years after Voldemort's defeat. The outside world was alive with celebration, people and families enjoying their Halloween Eve. Yet, deep within the Department of Mysteries, the wheels of fate were turning. Standing on its dais, the Veil, an object which was the barrier between the living and spiritual world, was showing an unusual amount of activity. The normal gentle current that flowed had turned into violent, gale force winds. To a bystander, it would have been like a violent thunder storm without the rain, lightning and thunder. The Veil whipped around violently, the bottom curling up on itself. In a fast and furious motion, the Veil was blown forward, almost horizontal, in a snap-like throwing motion, like a curtain with an open window in a violent storm.<p>

Then, it settled down. The strong, violent current returned to being slow and gentle. There were no traces that such a huge uproar had ever occurred.

Except for three.

Just in front of the dais, lying on the hard ground, were three naked boys, all no older than four years old. Moaning, groaning and moving with such a lack of grace that it was if they were drunk, the boys each tried to assess where they were and what had happened. As one of the boys sat up and shook his head, as if trying to physically dispel the fuzziness of his mind, he caught sight of one of the other boys, and his posture immediately turned into one of aggression. The one being stared at soon noticed and his stance soon mirrored that of the other boys. The two quickly stood up and glared fiercely at each other before spitting out a word each.

"Snape!"

"Black!"

A cry of rage sounded from one boy, no one could be sure which, and both children launched at each other, and the smallest boy had quickly scramble out of the way to avoid being trampled. The third child watched helplessly as the other two rolled around the floor, wrestling, before turning to look at the peaceful Veil behind him, confused and scared.

None of them noticed when a late-working Unspeakable walked into the chamber to see what all the noise was about.

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><p>It was well past midnight when the floo sounded. As expected, when Kingsley Shacklebolt surveyed the area, not a living being was in sight. He sighed and shook his head, hoping it wouldn't be too hard to wake her up. He had heard stories when the Order was active about her ability to sleep through noise, but he was hoping it was just an exaggeration.<p>

"Esmerelda! Esmerelda!" There was no reply to his calls. He sighed once more before proceeding through the floo and into her living. He gave a glance of disapproval that she hadn't warded it, but, then again, the last time someone tried to use that fact to attack her, the guy ended up handed over to the aurors as a bloody mess. Kingsley shook his head once more before proceeding down the small hallway. One more thing he never understood was why Esmerelda, who had enough money to live in an extravagant mansion, insisted on living in a small, two-bedroom apartment. When questioned, she always just mumbled something about too much space and not enough people and settled into a depressed sort of quiet. Deciding to stop that train of thought for the moment, he knocked on the Potter heirs' bedroom door.

"Esmerelda! Wake up!" Once again, there was no reply. Sighing in grim determination, he turned the door knob and opened the door. The bedroom was small, like everything else in the household, but it held the person he was looking for. And said person was dead to the world. He strode over and gave the sleeping girl a good long stare, before attempting to wake her.

"Esmerelda." No response. "Esmerelda." Again, no response. "Potter! Wake up!" And, yep, you guessed it, no response. Kingsley sighed impatiently before gripping the young women's shoulder with a firm hand, preparing to shake the girl awake.

However, he didn't get the chance, as he had to quickly duck to avoid an object attempting to imbed itself in his skull, resulting in it hitting the wall. He glanced at the impressive and startling dent in the wall before turning to the now-wide-awake women, who, he noticed, was holding a metal baseball bat in her hands. He glared at her and she gave a sheepish smile, placing the potentially deadly object on the other side of the bed but still within reaching distance. She then turned to him with a smile.

"Minister Shacklebolt." She acknowledged. "What brings you here?" She cocked her head to the side in curiosity.

"We need you at the ministry. It's an emergency." The young women nodded, her face thoughtful.

"Okay, give me five minutes to get changed. I'll meet you by my fireplace." He nodded and departed. Settling himself on one of the couches, he resigned himself to waiting an hour for the women to get ready. That train of thought caused him to get quite the shock when Esmerelda did, in fact, turn up soon after he sat down.

"What's going on, Kingsley?" She said, tying her long, black hair in a plait which then hung over her left shoulder. Her bright green eyes held both curiosity and concern. The first name basis reminded Kingsley of when he had protected this same girl when Voldemort was at large. It brought a smile to his face.

"I'll explain when we get to the ministry. We need to get there as soon as we can." With that, he took some floo powder from the nearby flowerpot and cast it into the fireplace, calling out the ministry of magic as he did so, before walking into the flames and disappearing. Esmerelda sighed and followed him, deciding that she'd deal with whatever-it-was when she got there.

_One step at a time, Emma. One step at a time._ She thought before casting her own floo powder and shouting the ministry of magic.

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><p>Esmerelda stumbled through the floo and into the waiting room. Kingsley was already there, waiting for her. He motioned to go down the nearest corridor but she held up a hand to stop him. Her nose was tickling; she knew what was coming next. In a flurry of motion, she let loose at least a dozen sneezes in quick succession, before hacking from the lack of oxygen in her lungs, bringing her to the floor, sounding like a dying animal. Eventually, she quieted down and managed to regain her footing.<p>

"...I'm good..." She said, though it sounded rather nasal after her attack. Kingsley nodded and led the way through the ministry, Esmerelda following.

"Miss Potter," She inclined her head to show she heard the Minister. "...What was with the muggle weapon?" Esmerelda gave him a wide, and slightly creepy, grin.

"Now you know what happened to that guy I handed to your aurors." She walked ahead, almost skipping, and all Kingsley could do was stare at her back, slightly scared and try to keep up. Esmerelda soon slowed down and fell in behind Kingsley, turning to him with a curious glance.

"So, what's the emergency?" She asked as they turned into the section of the ministry that held the interrogation rooms. She could see one door open with a light. Kingsley beckoned her towards the open door and pointed inside. Esmerelda looked inside and was, at first, confused at the sight. The interrogation room itself had been transformed into a small and impromptu, but comfy-looking, sitting room. Inside were one, female unspeakable that Esmerelda didn't know, and three young boys. Something was familiar about them but she couldn't place what. Though all looked about the same age, each looked different.

The first two boys were about the same height and even looked something similar. They both had black hair, but one's was wavy, even though it was short. He also had deep silver eyes, whilst the other had onyx black. The smallest boy had short, tawny hair with beautiful, but wary, amber eyes. Though all were sitting down, he had his knees up to his chest and looked scared, whilst the other two held their heads high and had a proud aura around them. The clothes they were wearing looked like they had been shrunk down to fit them.

Esmerelda continued to stare at them; unable to place the familiar feeling she felt when she saw them. Then, the black-eyed boy turned to sneer at the unspeakable and it clicked. Esmerelda shook her head, trying to see whether it was a dream, but when she opened her eyes, the same connections were there. The black-eyed boy's sneer, the silver-eyed boy's hair and the smallest boy's eyes. They matched with three people she had known very well. She continued staring at them, unaware that her mouth hung open.

_Some God up there truly does hate me._

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><p>And done. Please read and review. I need some encouragement. Thanks for reading,<p>

NightWhisper.


	2. Back Home

Here's the next chapter. Thank you for the lovely response to both my harry potter stories and to all those who reviewed, faved or alerted. I would have loved to have this up sooner, but exams and parents freaking out about low scores have taken away time, also writer's block has been a constant annoyance. So, thank you for waiting, and hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters.

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><p>Esmerelda continued staring at them, her mouth hanging wide open, completely oblivious to Kingsley's desperate attempts to snap her out of her trance. Said minister was currently trying to shake her back into reality, not that it was doing much good. Suddenly, so suddenly that it was like a slap to the face, Esmerelda came back down to Earth. She could feel her eye twitching as she stared at the trio, none of which had noticed the two adults standing just outside the door. She didn't notice that Kingsley was staring at her, worried.<p>

"...Esmerelda?" He asked, hesitantly. Esmerelda turned to him, her face still frozen in a slightly horrified look.

"Yeah, one second." She turned away from the minister and banged her head on the door frame. It connected with a solid 'thunk' and she held her head in her hands in pain.

"Ow! Okay, so I'm not dreaming." She hissed in pain, before turning back to look into the room, its occupants somehow still oblivious to the two outside. Esmerelda turned to Kingsley.

"Care to explain what's going on?" She said, and incredulous look on her face. Kingsley sighed and shook his head before answering.

"Earlier this evening, the Veil," Esmerelda shuddered at the mention of the object that had taken her godfather from her, "was strangely active and disturbed. Our unspeakable," He inclined his head to the young women, "went to see what was happening and found those three." He took on a more thoughtful face. "It seems that Messrs. Severus Snape, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were sent back out of the Veil, with all of their memories but in their four-year-old bodies." Esmerelda turned to him, still with an unbelieving look.

"And," She started, glaring at him slightly, "What does this have to do with me?" Kingsley seemed to get really uncomfortable with that question and tried to stall, but a sharp glare from the young raven-haired girl stopped him. He sighed, resigned to his fate.

"Well, three four-year-olds cannot live by themselves," Esmerelda nodded, knowing that much, "And since you knew all three of them before," Esmerelda had a bad feeling she knew what was coming next, "We decided that you should look after them." Kingsley finished, his voice a lot quieter than when he started. Esmerelda stared at him, unbelieving, before her face morphed into one of horror.

"In case you haven't NOTICED," She started, drawing the attention of the occupants of the room, "I'm not exactly mother material." She finished, gesturing to herself.

"Who said I wanted to go stay with you anyways?" Esmerelda whipped her head around at the remark to see Snape sneering at her. Even as a child, he had his sneer down perfectly, didn't inflict fear in anyone when it was on a child's face. Esmerelda opened her mouth to snap something at him, maybe something that she'd regret later, but never got the chance, as she was suddenly barrelled into by an excitable, black-haired child.

"Emma!" Sirius jumped into her arms, laughing happily and burying his face in her shoulder. Esmerelda couldn't help the smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around the boy and hugged him.

"I'm glad to see you too, Sirius." She re-positioned the child so he was sitting on one of her arms whilst the hand of the other arm carded through his hair. She stopped her ministrations when she felt a slight, tentative tug on her slacks. She looked down to see Remus staring up at her, hands twisted in the cloth of her slacks, wide, innocent eyes and a slightly shy look on his face. Esmerelda smiled once more as she brought her free hand down to rest on Remus' head, giving his a one-armed hug.

"I'm happy to see you as well, Remus." The small child smiled and leant into both her touch and her leg. Esmerelda noticed Kingsley with a small, but smug, smile on his face, and realization clicked.

"You knew," She started, trying and failing to summon up and anger and settled for mock-glaring at the minister. "You knew that when they saw me, I wouldn't be able to refuse to take them in. You planned this!" The only indication that Esmerelda was right was the fact Kingsley's smile grew even larger. Esmerelda suddenly felt Remus grow stiff, looking down, she saw that he had buried his face in her clothes and was unnaturally still.

"You don't have to take us," He mumbled, words muffled by the cloth but still held a noticeable sad and lonely tone. It broke Esmerelda's heart to hear it. "If you don't want to..." Esmerelda knelt down next to Remus and placed Sirius down next to him.

"Of course I want you to come with me." She said, placing a hand each on the two boys' shoulders. "It was just sudden. I wasn't told anything," She gave a small smile. "But I do want you to stay with me, if you want to as well." Both of the boys smiled slightly and glanced at each other. A small nod from Remus and Sirius spoke.

"Yeah, with you." Esmerelda smiled and pulled both boys to her in a hug. She looked over their heads to see Kingsley staring at her, amused. She glared at him.

"Make any comment about females and mother instincts and I will personally kill you."

"I'll help." The unspeakable agreed, giving Esmerelda a friendly smile. Kinsley couldn't work out whether they were joking or not, so he just nodded and stayed silent. The unspeakable then turned to Severus.

"Now," the unspeakable started, drawing both Kingsley's and Esmerelda's to the last child. "Severus," he looked at her to show her that he was listening, though sneered at the fact she had used his given name. "Who do you want to stay with?" Esmerelda watched as the child began to try and think of someone to stay with. Kingsley seemed to realise that the boy was having trouble thinking of someone who'd have survived and decided to help.

"I know the Malfoy's, for one, would take you in. And there's-"

"Tell you what," the unspeakable interrupted. "Since she's here now," Snape's face grew horrified as he figured out what she was going to say and Esmerelda felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, "why don't you stay with Esmerelda temporarily?" The entire room was silent. Esmerelda was slightly shocked, Remus was nervous, Both Severus and Sirius were horrified and angry, and Kingsley was edging towards the door.

"WHAT!" Both Severus and Sirius screamed, equally as loud and voices filled with fury. Sparks of untamed magic filled the room, startling both boys. Esmerelda felt a few giggles escape her and could see the other adults trying to contain their mirth. Both boys turned to an adult, Severus staring at Kingsley and Sirius peering up at her, eyes wide with confusion.

"You may have your adult memories," Kingsley answered, still trying not to laugh, "but you all have the strength, emotions and magical control as a four-year-old child. And children that age haven't yet learnt to control their magic." Whilst Sirius blushed and hid himself behind her legs, Severus glared at any of them who dared to vocalise their amusement at the situation.

"Listen, Severus," The boy in question glared at the unspeakable as she spoke. "It would only be for a little while, just until someone else is found." She knelt down till she was eye-level with the boy. "Can you handle that?" He sneered at her and turned away, stubborn. Sirius, unable to believe what he was hearing, soon was glaring at the smaller boy.

"No way are you living under the same roof as me! You're just a slimy greasy-"

"Sirius, Hush!" Esmerelda said firmly, quickly cutting through Sirius' rant and leaving no room for argument. Hearing the sharp tone of his new guardian, Sirius quickly fell silent, though continued to glare at the former slytherin. Esmerelda's interference with Sirius' taunts seemed to have surprised Severus, as he stared at the young lady with wide eyes before looking more thoughtful than annoyed. A few minutes passed before he finally sighed, then spoke.

"Fine, but only temporarily." The unspeakable smiled before helping Severus off the seat and leading him towards the last Potter. As he got close, he sneered at the other boys, which Sirius quickly returned. Remus tried to give a friendly smile, but quickly hid his face when Severus glared at him. Oblivious to all of this, Kingsley smiled kindly at the young women.

"The floo is open at anytime, should you have any problems," He said, as he led the group to the floo in his office, "And we'll check in on you in about a week to see how you're getting on." Esmerelda nodded, trying to think of something to say. Nothing came to mind, so she smiled instead and bent down to the children.

"I'm going to carry you three through the floo. It'll be hard with three of you, so try not to wiggle a lot." She said, collecting the three children in her arms, some *coughcoughSeveruscoughcough* with more trouble than others.

When she finally had all of them in her arms, she nodded to Kingsley who threw some floo powder into the fire for her. She quickly walked into it, before calling out her destination, "Emerald Nest!" and disappearing in a blast of flames.

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><p>Esmerelda stumbled out of the fireplace, and quickly placed the children on the couch before falling into her sneezing fit. She was soon hacking from the lack of oxygen, causing all three to look at her.<p>

"If you're going to die," Severus started, looking at her with barely hidden concern. "Please die quietly."

"Sod off, I'm not dying." Esmerelda replied, her voice was, once again nasal.

"What was that?" Remus asked, his voice as soft as a whisper. Esmerelda stared at them for a while, before sighing and answering.

"I'm allergic to floo powder." At that, Severus started laughing, but a quick glare from both Remus and Sirius caused him to sober up quickly. With the time that it took place; Esmerelda had managed to stand up again cleared her throat to grab their attention.

"Alright, a few ground rules; since you're living in my house, you're going to be following my rules." Sirius smirked, confident that Esmerelda wouldn't restrict him, but the smirk quickly left when Esmerelda knelt down so she was eye level with them and gave him a glare. "Firstly, no name calling or starting fights. That goes for all of you. We're living in the same space, so it's not going to be overrun with petty fights. Secondly, Sirius," He turned, shocked, when he was called out. "No pulling pranks on Severus. Like I said, I won't allow this place to be overrun with petty fights and I saw your school days. Some of what you did was just cruel. So that's not happening, and the same goes for you, Severus, no taunting Sirius or Remus. Thirdly, you are not to leave here without me. Fourth, if something is wrong, if you are upset or hurt, tell me. I'm here to help you, but I can't help if I don't know what's wrong." With that, she smiled and stood up, beckoning for the children to follow her. The quickly clambered off the couch and followed her as she stood in the middle of the main room.

"This is the living room," She said, pointing to the side with the door and couches, as well as a TV which she used when it was bad weather outside. "And that side is the kitchen/dining room." She nodded to the other half. "I know this place is small, but I'll look for a larger place soon. I never needed space, so I only have a small apartment, which means you'll all be sleeping in the same room." She held up a hand to stop any protests, which were about to come from Sirius and Severus. "There isn't room for you to each have your own rooms." She beckoned them down the hallway and opened up the door on the left of them.

"This is my room, I'll leave it open a crack, so should you ever need me, you can come and get me." The walls were painted like a sunset and the ceiling like a night sky. It had a double bed in the middle, up against the back wall and a bookcase next to it. The other side of it had a bedside table with lamp and a window on the side opposite the door. The side opposite the bed had another door, which led to an ensuite and a dresser next to it with clothes. She then opened up the door opposite her bedroom. "This will be your room, at least, until I get a larger place for us." The room was bare; the walls a pale cream colour. And had one large bed in the middle. It had a bookcase and a bedside table like Esmerelda's room, though the bookcase here was empty, and had three sliding doors that made up the entire wall opposite the bed, and a window was placed opposite the door. However, the children seemed to have spotted one problem.

"I am _not_ sharing a bed with them." Esmerelda couldn't help but sigh dramatically, causing Remus to giggle, and pointed her wand at the bed at Severus' insistence.

"Dividere in tres." With that, the bed groaned, and shifted, and finally, split into three, single, but identical, beds. It was, almost immediately, a mad scramble between Sirius and Severus as to who would get what bed. Watching them, Esmerelda couldn't tell who wanted what bed, or if they were just fighting because they could. Meanwhile, Remus had attached himself to her trouser leg and was looking up at her with wide eyes. Smiling, she gestured to the beds and Remus hesitantly let go of her and began to skirt around the brawling boys. Once around, Remus only looked at each bed for a few seconds before quickly going over to the one in the middle of the room and began trying to haul himself on top of it.

Esmerelda smiled as she also went around the other boys to the middle bed. She bent down and latched her arms around Remus' waist, before lifting him onto the bed. He giggled and gave her a sweet smile, clutching the blankets in his fisted hands. She sat down next to him and stared over at the other boys who had finally stopped fighting and were staring at them. It was an amusing sight.

Both had paused, still in a fighting position. Sirius had Severus in a headlock and Severus had wrenched the top of Sirius' robes in his hands, and both were staring at them with an bemused expression. Esmerelda couldn't stop the smirk or the raised eyebrow, but she did manage to gesture to the other two beds. In a dash, Severus pulled away from Sirius and bolted to the bed on the left of her, right next to the window. Sirius watched him, shocked, before huffing and stomping a foot and stalking over to the last bed, right next to the door. Esmerelda gave one last smile and gave Remus a tight hug. He hugged her back before scrambling under the covers. She turned to Severus, who huffed and turned so his back was facing her, but soon realised that he'd have to face her to climb onto the bed. He tried quickly but, in the end, Esmerelda had to help him up. Another huff and he crawled under the blankets and turned away from her. Rolling her eyes fondly, she then went over to Sirius, who she also lifted onto the bed before hugging him goodnight. He returned it, grinning, before also crawling under the covers.

All done tucking her new charges in for the night, she went over to the still-open door and turned off the lights. "Goodnight," She called softly, gaining two goodnights and a huff in response. She couldn't stop the smile on her face as she closed the door, before making her way over to her own bedroom.

'Maybe this mother-thing isn't so bad.' She thought fondly before crawling into her own bed and falling asleep.

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><p>There. Done. Now maybe I can start working on the third chapter of Slytherin Shadow Girl. Hope you enjoyed this chapter,<p>

Nightwhisper.


	3. Nightmares

Yay! New chapter. Hope this is alright. Sorry about the wait, school's been hard with choosing our final subjects and camp's been a real pain in the backside. Hope this is worth the wait.

Disclaimer: I don't own harry potter. I can't care about the capitals of the name right now.

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><p>Remus woke up with a start, panting. His eyes were wide with terror, he could feel cold sweat gathering at the nape of his neck and his body was shaking involuntarily. The room was dark, almost completely black. It was almost impossible to see the mounds in the other two beds, both of which were still sleeping soundly. Remus fisted the sheets as the nightmare replayed itself in his mind. A jolt of fear zapped through his body, before he climbed off the bed and ran to the door. He only realised it was closed when he reached it, as well as the fact he couldn't reach the handle. Fear ruling every instinct, he tugged on the door with all his might, only to stumble backwards when the door swung open with ease. A look at the knob and doorframe and it showed that the deadlatch hadn't connected with metal catch. He slipped out of room and quickly scrambled across the hallway to Esmerelda's room. Her bedroom door was in the same position as the guest bedroom's door. A push and he tumbled onto the dark-coloured carpet.<p>

Esmerelda was in a large double-bed in the middle. She was lying on her stomach and he couldn't see her face, but an arm was hanging over the side of the bed that was facing him. He suddenly felt very small and timid. He took small, hesitant steps towards the bedside until his nose was almost touching her arm. He silently debated with himself about whether or not to wake her, but then decided, with a sigh of hopelessness and depression, that she wouldn't want to be bothered and started heading back to the door, dragging his feet behind him.

"What's wrong, Remus?" The sleepy voice stopped him. Turning around, he saw an awake and bleary-eyed Esmerelda staring at him. He whimpered, backing up and prepared to apologize, but she held up her hanging hand in a gesture for him to be silent. "Shh..." Using the same hand, she gestured for him to come closer to her. He obeyed, trembling with each step. Finally, he reached the edge of the bed and looked up into her calm-sleepy face. He gave a squeak of surprise as she grabbed him under his arms and lifted him onto her bed. Her green eyes bored into his amber as she began carding a hand through his hair.

"Nightmare?" Her voice was soft and gentle, the word slightly slurred from sleep. He gave a short nod and soon found himself tucked against her chest in a cuddle. One arm held him firmly to her and the other's hand was still carding through his hair. He was close enough to hear her heartbeat and it soothed him like a lullaby, making him drowsy. He heard, and felt, her chuckle lightly.

"Go to sleep, Remus." She whispered in his ear. "I won't let anything hurt you." He tried to stay awake, he really did, but listening to the steady thrum of her heart, the warmth of the blankets and her, the gentle hand still buried in his hair. So warm, so safe. And, eventually, he felt his eyelids grow heavy and soon fell into darkness.

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><p>Esmerelda, however, couldn't sleep. Her mind was focused on what she'd just witnessed. The terrified and fearful look on Remus' face when she called him; it stirred something deep inside of her, something that recognised the look on his face, something that knew what it was like.<p>

He was scared of her.

Or her anger. Scared of being in trouble and fearful of what'd she do if he annoyed her. The only thing she could think of that would make him act such a way would be if he had been abused. But she had to be wrong, right?

Sighing, she tried to settle down, let her tiredness take over her and lull her into sleep. The soft, re-assuring puffs coming from the little bundle in her arms helped, until she heard a large thump which destroyed any chance of her going back to sleep. Glaring at the door, she willed the noise, which seemed to be angry muttering, to stop, unsurprisingly, and sadly, it didn't stop, if anything it grew louder. Within minutes, she was walking down the hallway, carrying a still-sleeping Remus in her arms. She had originally tried to keep him in her bed, but the boy had a rather strong grip on her shirt, and eventually decided that she'd take him but weaved a privacy ward around him so he didn't wake up.

She followed the voices, there seemed to be more than one, into the living room and then into the kitchen. It was when she saw two small, black shapes quietly yelling at each other, when she knew who it was and quickly switched on the lights. Caught in the brightness, stood a guilty Sirius and a guilty Severus, both of whom looked like children with their hands caught in the cookie jar. Esmerelda shook her head, she had the feeling this was going to be a long night.

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><p>"So all of you had nightmares, and none of you are willing to tell me about what?"<p>

All three of her charges shook their heads in unison. Remus had woken up earlier with all the light and promptly freaked out that he couldn't hear anything. Esmerelda had promptly undone the privacy ward and calmed him down, before depositing him in the middle of the couch and lifting Sirius and Severus up on either side of him. She'd promptly questioned them and quickly found out that they'd been awake for the same reason Remus had been and had left their room, only to run into each other in the hallway and promptly began fighting. As for why they were in the kitchen, well, Sirius seemed to have forgotten that he was only a child and had gone for some firewhiskey, only for Severus to find him and remind him, which had started the argument. It gave Esmerelda a headache to think about it.

Giving her an even bigger headache was all three had remained adamant about not telling her about their nightmares. Esmerelda felt like screaming her frustrations to the heavens, but that wouldn't be proper for an adult to do in front of children. Instead, she took a deep breath, pinched the bridge of her nose and managed to remain calm. Hermione would be proud of her. Sighing, she stood up and beckoned for the children to follow her. Taking them back down the hallway, she led them into her bedroom and, one by one, lifted them onto her bed.

"If you won't let me help you, I'll do it anyway." She claimed as she slid into the bed herself and pulled up the covers. Making sure all three were covered, she pulled them to her in a cuddle. She couldn't help but smile at their reactions. Remus snuggled in close like before, whilst Sirius was more hesitant. Severus immediately tried to pull away, but eventually just turned his back on her. Esmerelda couldn't stop herself from shaking her head in amusement before settling down, the steady breaths of all three boys helping to lull her to sleep.

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><p>Okay, another chapter. Still ploughing along slowly, still having no idea where this is heading but being pulled along anyways. Leave reviews please, they make me feel like this story is actually worth , please vote on the poll on my profile, it effects how and when I update.<p>

NightWhisper


	4. Shopping

Yes, the next chapter for my Gentle Evergreen. Thank you to all those who reviewed, faved or alerted. Also, in this, Rose and Hugo are twins.

Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter. I've got enough things to do.

(^.^)~LINE BREAK~(^.^)

Esmerelda couldn't help the smile that came upon her as she watched the three boys bicker and argue childishly as she cooked breakfast. Well, two were arguing and bickering, Remus was sitting quietly on the kitchen counter, smiling and keeping a careful eye on the toaster. Sirius and Severus had been given the job of carrying napkins and placemats to the table and to place them on her chair (she had charmed the other three chairs to have longer legs and were now suitable high chairs for the three children), but it wasn't working out as quickly as she planned. The two fought about anything and everything, and it had slowed their job to snail-pace. Sighing, good-naturedly of course, she continued with the scrambled eggs and bacon that were on the stove, her mine unintentionally wafting.

She had awoken to find Severus gone and Sirius and Remus still sleeping soundly. Quickly stumbling out of bed, but being careful not to wake the sleeping children, she started searching for the missing boy, finding him in the trio's bedroom, sound asleep. It seemed that he'd woken up earlier than the rest of them and had gotten his stubborn, snarky attitude back. He'd climbed out of her bed, gone back into their bedroom and tried to climb back into his bed. Obviously, his lack of height meant that it didn't work out and he ended up pulling the sheets and blankets onto the floor, and wound up sleeping in them. And that was how Esmerelda found him the next morning, curled up, innocent-looking and fast asleep in a nest of bedding. Esmerelda let out a chuckle at the memory.

"Done!" Esmerelda startled at the sudden pipe up from the tawny-haired boy. True to his words, the toast had popped up, a nice golden-brown. Smiling, she reached over and took them out before Remus could reach them, not wanting any dramas with burnt fingers so early in the morning, buttered them and sliced them diagonally into even triangles, before placing one half on each of the four plates. Esmerelda knew that, with being back at four years old, they wouldn't be able to eat as much as they used to, and was being careful not to give them too much. It helped that she didn't eat much herself and was used to small amounts of food. She knew it worried her friends that she ate so little (Well, not really so little. She ate enough to be considered healthy, she just didn't eat more than she needed), but growing up at the Dursely's meant that it was all she could manage. Sure, most of the damage from their treatment had been repaired, but she still never ate more than she needed. It was almost as if she had an unconscious fear of becoming as large as they were, as she had half-jokingly stated at one dinner with the Weasley's. It seemed to lighten the mood.

Evenly distributing the bacon and egg onto the plates, she placed the cooking utensils in the sink to wash up later before picking up two plates at a time and taking them over to the table. A bit of juggling and she was able to set the placemats right and place the plates down. Realising that they had fallen behind, Sirius and Severus hurried their way over with the glasses, napkins and utensils, handing them to her as she placed them around. Going back over to the kitchen, she grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge before wandering back over to the counter. A bit of shifting and Remus was settled comfortably on her hip, one of her arms supporting him and the other holding the juice. Stepping back over to the table with Sirius and Severus at her heels, she first placed the container on the table before lifting each child into their seat. Sirius immediately dug in as if he hadn't eaten in years, with Remus following at a more sedate pace. Severus, on the other hand, glared at the newly-sitting Esmerelda, took one sniff of the food, and turned away with a stubborn huff.

"Come on," She tapped the table in front of him with an annoyed pout, "There's nothing wrong with it. And I'm not cooking something else, I put effort into this." He turned back around to glare at her. "Please, just try it." He slowly picked up his fork and knife, cut a bit of egg away from the rest an raised it to his mouth, eyes never leaving her face or losing their glare. His face, however, snapped to the plate in surprise once it finally entered his mouth. She could see the shine in his eyes saying that it tasted good, not that he'd tell her that. He finally started eating, after an exasperated glare at her, as if saying that he didn't want to but he'd do it to stop her complaining, and she could finally go over to her seat and eat herself.

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She finally managed to get everyone, including herself, to finish breakfast, wash the dishes, with help from a Remus who seemed to have grown fond of sitting on the kitchen bench, and get everyone dressed for the day. Well, it was actually just herself to get dressed, the boys didn't have any spare changes of clothes, so it was her trying to get the privacy to change in peace and make sure that Severus and Sirius wouldn't attack each other without her presence. Eventually she sat them both outside her door, one on each side of the hall, and Remus in the middle with a warning that if she heard one shout from either of them or a squeak from Remus and they'd both be in deep trouble. It didn't stop them from making faces at each other from across the hall, as she discovered when she opened her door quieter then they had expected and caught them in the act. Shaking her head, she walked down the hallway with all three at her heels, wondering silently how Remus was so patient with them. She led them to the fireplace once more, telling them to stay there whilst she cast a glamour over her scar.

"Where are we going, anyways?" Sirius had voiced the question, looking at the fireplace and the open pot of floo powder.

"Diagon Alley." She replied, coming back over. "We need to get some clothes for you, and other things." She lit the fire once more with a quick and wordless 'incendio', before gathering up the three children in her arms again, who didn't struggle this time, and entered the fire, calling out their destination.

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Esmerelda stumbled out of the fireplace, once again distorted form the trip, and quickly shooed the boys to the ground and back a bit before she collapsed in her usual sneezing fit. She was just starting to feel better and get a hold of it when a hand appeared in her vision.

"Need some help?" Esmerelda followed the hand up the arm and to a very familiar blonde face. There, swimming in her vision, was Hannah Abbott. She recalled having heard that she was working in The Leaky Cauldron as Tom's assistant but she hadn't actually seen the ex-hufflepuff in the times she had been there. Smiling, she took the hand and was lifted to her feet.

"Thanks, Hannah, good to see you again." She said as she gained her footing one more. The blonde girl smiled, having already figured out who the black-haired girl was.

"Good to see you again too, Emma. I didn't know you were doing babysitting." Hannah gestured to the three children standing by, Esmerelda gestured with a hand for her to keep her voice low, not wanting to be rude, but also not wanting attention drawn to them. Hannah, far from upset, her eyes lit up with excitement at the prospect of a secret. "Oh, something not to be spoken? Can I help? I'm on my break, please~" Esmerelda looked towards the three children; already she could see a disaster of a day playing out before her where she was driven crazy by three bickering children. Slowly, she nodded her head. Hannah's grin was almost blinding.

"Great, what are we shopping for them?" Esmerelda led Hannah, and shepherded the kids through the pub quickly, as Sirius and Severus were starting to fight again and drawing attention, and into the alleyway, tapping on the bricks with her wand.

"Everything. Clothes, toys, bed sheets, necessities, the works." Hannah already had the evil-like shopping look most of the girl's in their year had when it was a Hogsmeade day.

"Let's get started, then."

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"Well," Esmerelda started as she finally collapsed in one of the booth seats at The Leaky Cauldron, "That was a disaster and a half."

It had been. First had been the trip to Madam Malkin's to get the kids more than one set of clothes. Hannah had decided that since at least one, if not more, of the children would be occupied by the women in the shop taking their measurements, she could rush down to a general store and get the kids' basic things that they didn't need to be there for without any major dramas happening. So Esmerelda was left looking after all three on her own again. It was alright in the beginning, with all three of them distracted by the women measuring them, the choices of types of clothing (She practically had to force them into getting sets of muggle clothes as well as wizardry) and the colours choices within them. But Hannah hadn't returned by the time they were ready to go.

With no meeting point established should they be separated, something that Esmerelda had changed when they finally met up again, she was forced to stay next to the shop, with three very bored four-year-olds. Severus and Sirius were on the verge of a brawl when the woman had finally returned, complete with a bag of supplies, and helped her separate them. She kept Sirius on one side of her and Hannah kept Severus on the other side. They went through the stores, letting the children choose bed covers next. Sirius, of course, chose ones that were red with a hint of gold on them. Once Severus saw this, he, partly just to spite Sirius Esmerelda estimated, went and chose green and black ones. It was whilst they were bickering, once again Esmerelda thought as a headache formed, that a silent and shy Remus chose blue and silver ones. A nice choice, she had said when he showed her. Somehow, the sound of her words to Remus shut the other two up, causing them to be quiet for the rest of the time it took for them to make the purchases and get out, but only for that long, as they started making mumbled comments to each other as soon as they entered the street again.

A quicker stop, one where the decision was made by the two adults, was a furniture store, getting smaller stools, step ladders and a couple of bookshelves. Picking out the small ladders so the kids could get in and out of bed at will, the two adults mostly just chatted about trivial things amongst them and kept a hold of the three children, taking advantage of the almost-silence. It made Esmerelda wish she had spent more time around the wizarding world since she graduated; it was nice to catch up with her former year-mates. But her years weren't wasted, as Hannah looked absolutely fascinated by the tales of Esmerelda's trips around the muggle world.

It was the final stop of the day that they reached a store of toys for young children, which was good considering Esmerelda was starting to wonder how she would cope with anything any longer. That had been fairly simple, though, herself taking Sirius and Remus and Hannah taking Severus in opposite directions with instructions that they would meet up in half an hour at the register. Sirius had darted for the more complex games, she had to gently drag him away from the children's broomsticks, and choose some things like a milder version of exploding snap and a children's set of gobstones. She allowed him to get a handful, before she said enough and took him over to the selection of children's books for Remus. There they met up with Severus again, but he chose to ignore them and Esmerelda kept a bored Sirius on a tight leash. She watched them pick out the books they wanted, noting something very interesting. Remus chose mostly fantasy or story books, whilst Severus preferred factual books with information. It was when they finally both had more book than they could carry, that they finally reached the register. It was whilst waiting in line, Esmerelda spotted something rather cute. Remus was flicking his eyes constantly towards a stand of stuffed animals. Smiling, she asked Hannah to keep their place in line and took the three children over to the stand, telling them they were allowed one each. Sirius chose his almost immediately, choosing a black dog that looked like his animagus form, which reminded Esmerelda that she had to check whether he could still do that. Severus took longer, but chose a black raven with glossy wings. Remus, though, took the longest. He'd pick up one, look at it for a while, before putting it back, he circled round and round the stand, before, finally, coming to a stop and plucking a calico cat from the stand. He still had it, she noticed, having fished it out of the shopping bag as soon as they exited and made their way over to The Leaky Cauldron for lunch. Now, they all sat comfortably, waiting for their meal, which had been ordered as several pieces of fish and a large chips.

"So," Hannah began as Tom placed their food in front of them and left. "Have you told Ron and Hermione yet?" Esmerelda slowly shook her head, already having taken a big bite of her fish almost as soon as it was set down in front of her. "Are you planning on telling them?" She nodded, noticing the three children's heads shoot up when Hannah said this. Whilst Hannah might not have recognised them, there was no way Ron and Hermione wouldn't. Telling them she was looking after three kids meant telling them everything, but Esmerelda found that she wanted to. She wanted to speak to her friends who already had kids about advice. "Hmm," Hannah made the small sound around her fork, eyes gazing off into the distance. "Well, tell the two I said 'Hi', would you? It's not been the same since we left Hogwarts, no more great rumours of adventures of you three." Esmerelda barely managed to hold back a wince at the reminder of those 'adventures' but managed to keep it together. They finished their lunch and left, heading for the floo network with Hannah following to say goodbye. They exchanged a hug and Hannah ruffled all three kids' hair, much to their horror, before disappearing back around the corner to her work. Smiling, Esmerelda threw the floo powder into the fireplace and collected up the children and entering the fireplace once again.

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Once Esmerelda had finished her fit for that moment, she took out all the packages and carried them down to the children's room before re-enlarging them. Opening them and setting up the furniture with some quick spells, she left the kids to their own devices. Heading back down to the living room, she knelt once more by the horrid fireplace. What she wouldn't give for another way of transportation, but she hated apparation and it was so limited, especially now that she had three children to transport as well, and it just wasn't practical for her to fly everywhere, with or without children, it just took too long. Stalling as much as she could, she lit the fire and threw in the sneeze-inducing powder, calling out the Weasley-Granger residence as she did, and stuck her head into the flames, before letting out her custom sneezes.

"Well, with a sneeze like that, it must be Emma! What's up?" She heard Ron before her eyes cleared enough to see him. She glared at the very amused red-head who'd become something like her brother over the years.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" She quipped as she regained her senses as much as she would with her literally sticking her head into her allergy.

"Off day." He said as he stretched his arms up above his head. "Little holiday so I can spend time with Mione and the kids this afternoon." She smiled at the thought; Rose and Hugo were wonderful kids of 1 and a half years. They were practically her niece and nephew.

"Ron," He looked at her once more, giving a little 'hm' sound. "I need to talk to you, and Hermione. When can you spare a moment and come over so we can speak?" He drifted his eyes around, staring anywhere but at her as he thought. It seemed agonisingly long, even the sounds of the children in the back room faded form her ears as she waited. Finally, he seemed to have reached a decision and looked at her, squarely in the eyes.

"How about tonight?"

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Okay, finished. My birthday today, so please review as a birthday present for me? Hope you enjoyed.

NightWhisper


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